News digest
Hundreds surrender after Russian White House attack
MOSCOW—Army tanks blasted
holes in the parliament building just
after dawn Monday and commandos
stormed inside through smoke and
flame to crush an armed challenge by
hard-1 iners opposed to President Boris
Yeltsin. Hundreds surrendered, but
sporadic gunfire persisted after sun
down.
The hard-liners’ leaders — Vice
President Alexander Rutskoi and par
liament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov
—were in custody, Yeltsin aide Dmitri
Rurikov told CNN.
What appeared to be a crucial vic
tory for Yeltsin in the fight for poltical
control in Russia came with a high
price. Soldiers piled dozens of bodies
outside the building after the nearly
10-hour battle, which climaxed the
worst political violence in Moscow
since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Hundreds of lawmakers and sup
porters, hands on their heads, filed out
of the burning building and were ush
ered by troops onto waiting buses in
late afternoon. Gunfire erupted sever
al times during the surrender, scatter
ing crowds of onlookers outside the
white marble building known as the
Russian White House.
After nightfall, snipers periodical
ly shot glowing traccrbullets from the
White House and neighboring build
ings, indicating some parliament sup
porters were holding out.
Vladimir Polyakov, spokesman for
Yeltsin’s chief of stafTSergei Filatov,
said hard-line lawmakers themselves
had capitulated.
As convoys of tanks and other army
vehicles moved into the area after
dark, fire raged along much of an
upper floor of the shattered parlia
ment building. Orange flames flared
from windows elsewhere in the 19
story structure.
The government’s assault came in
response to Sunday’s violent attempt
by the hard-liners to seize some gov
ernment buildings and topple Yel tsin.
The sides have been at bitter odds
since Yeltsin ordered parliament dis
solved two weeks ago and set early
elections for December.
Leaders of parliament had barri
caded themselves in the White House
with armed supporters, challenging
Yeltsin ’s effort to establ ish himself as
the supreme authority in restructuring
Russia. The parliament, which was
elected before the Soviet collapse and
was dominated by Communists, tried
to hinder his reforms.
The army’s assault opened about 7
a.m., flames spitting from the barrels
of T-72 tanks as they pounded the
White House. Papers fluttered from
the shattered windows, followed by
heavy black smoke. Machine guns
blasted from a neighboring hotel and
apartment house.
The parliament’s defenders threw
firebombs and fired back from the
barricaded building as well as from
the nearby mayor’s office they cap
tured Sunday.
No accurate casualty count was
available. Yeltsin’s military adviser,
Gen. Dmitry Volkogonov, initially
told reporters that up to 500 might
have been killed inside the White
House, but stressed “that’s not con
firmed.”
Crowds watched from a distance
as the battle unfolded after a two
week standoff that began when Y eltin
ordered parliament dissolved and de
creed early elections.
Yeltsin was answering the hard
liners’ challenge to his authority over
his efforts to restructure the economy.
The parliament, which was elected
before the collapse of the Soviet Union
and was dominated for Communists,
tried to hinder Yeltsin’s reforms.
Ostankino Television and Radio Center
Heavy fighting raged around the
capital's main TV complex early
Monday. Thousands of unarmed
Yeltsin supporters took to the streets
to support the president.
American Embassy compound
A U.S. Marine was hit by a stray
bullet. He was reported In stable
condition at a Russian hospital. About
400 embassy employees took shelter
underground.
Parliamant Bldg. (While House)
Hard-liners surrender and leave the
Russian White House after government
tanks blew holes in the parliament
building and commandos poured in
automatic weapons fire in a full-scale
assault. One government official said
hundreds may have been killed.
Dafanaa Ministry
A column of at least 40 armored
vehicles poured into central Moscow
overnight and took up positions
outside the Ministry and near the
Kremlin in the army's first major show
of support for Yeltsin.
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News briefs
12 U.S. soldiers dead in Somalia battle
NAIROBI, Kenya — At least 12
U.S. Army soldiers died, 75 were
wounded and “a small number” were
feared taken captive in Somalia as
U.N. troops attacked forces loyal to
fugitive warlord Mohamcd Farrah
Aidid, Pentagon officials said Mon
day. As the battle raged in the streets
of Mogadishu, the Pentagon prepared
to send about 200 infantrymen, bol
stered by tanks and armored vehicles,
to bolster the U.S. forces battered in
the latest round of fighting, other of
ficials said.
Two senior Pentagon officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
said reports indicate at least 12 U.S.
soldiers have been killed in the recent
fighting in Mogadishu and that 75
have been wounded.
“It could go higher,” oik of the
officials said of the death toll.
Somalis dragged the body of an
American soldier through the streets
of Mogadishu today and danced
around the wreckage of U.S. helicop
ters and armored personnel carriers
destroyed in a firefight.
■■ ■ z iy
Two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters
were shot down in the U.N. search for
Aidid’s key lieutenants.
NBC News reported that seven
Army Rangers were missing and may
have been taken hostage. Anadminis
tration official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, would not confirm the
report but said the administration ex
pected Aidid’s forces to announce
they had captured U.S. troops.
Former priest convicted of child molestation
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A
former Roman Catholic priest Mon
day pleaded guilty to molesting doz
ens of children three decades ago as
his victims watched in a crowded
courtroom.
James A. Porter, 58, who left the
priesthood in the 1970s, pleaded guilty
to 41 counts in Bristol County Supe
rior Court where his trial had been
scheduled to begin later this month.
Sentencing was set for Dec. 6.
Porter had been charged with abus
ing 32 children who arc now adults,
and only began publicly telling their
stories less than two years ago when
one of the victims began building a
case against them.
Prosecutors said Porter molested
his victims on church property.
Porter had admitted previously that
he molested “a number of children”
and said he was a “very sick man.”
But he hoped to block the charges by
arguing they were outdated.
Porter, who is married and has four
children and lives in Minnesota, was
convicted last year of molesting his
children’s baby sitter in the 1980s.
Net?raskan
Editor JensrrvyFkzpetrick Night Newt Editors JeffZeleny
Managing Editor Wendy Mott Kristina Long
Assoc News Editors Angle Brunkow Andrea Keser
Kara Morrison Art Director Devtd Badders
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